Tag: burdastyle

A blog post! Finally! You guys have probably been wondering what on earth happened, radio silence for ages now! Well, I’ve had my head down making kid’s clothes for a friend, and to help me to clear out those stash boxes of left over fabrics, and the weather lured me out of doors! We had such beautiful, unseasonally hot weather at the end of February that I just couldn’t resist the siren call of the allotment!

It was luck that I hadn’t, to be honest, because now, at the beginning of March, I’m ready to sow seeds and plant stuff. Even if the weather has reverted to it’s usual windy, rainy self. So, now that the inclement weather is back, I’m back in the sewing room! Last week I had a proper sewing day and made 7 Rowan Tees by Misusu Patterns! It’s a free pattern for kids. I traced the sizes from the 98 or 3 year old, up to the 7 year old & raided my stash of leftover ponte, double jersey and quilted jersey. I made 3 of the smallest size, and randomly chose fabric and other sizes so I’d have enough for growing into, as well as fitting the older kid. Those were all the remains of the fabric after making Toaster Sweaters, Talvikki Sweaters and the LB Pullover. I’m very happy with my little pile, and will be distributing them amongst 3 kids.

But back on the sewing for normal humans – grown ups! I suddenly realised that daughter no 2 would be home this weekend for the week – reading week at uni, and I’d promised a bunch of toiles ready for fitting! Some patterns were ready to toile, others still needed to be traced – oops! So I’ve made a start with a pair of shorts, and today cut the toile for a dungaree dress, 115 from Burdastyle April 2017, and traced and cut the toile for the blouse, 111 from February 2018.

Dungaree dress 115Blouse 111

I also cut a top for my mum from her favourite Burda pattern (the fifth one this year!) and decided to experiment with viscose and the Kabuki Tee from Paper Theory. I toiled that pattern in February in the size 18, but decided I could afford to size down one. So, we’ll see if it works in viscose! I’ve seen plenty of cotton, nani iro, double gauze and linen versions, but ot viscose. Fingers crossed… By the way, has anyone seen the announcement that Tara is releasing a new pattern – a jumpsuit – either this week or next? I’m waiting with baited breath for this one, I really like the look of it when she made a version last summer. Let’s just say I’m on tenterhooks, waiting to pounce and hit that “pay now with PayPal” button as soon as it’s live! *edit* it’s live! Here’s the link if you’re remotely interested…

Fifth version of Mum’s favourite top pattern to be made this year.Kabuki Tee in viscose. Mad or inspired?

It’s due to rain tomorrow, so instead of getting really, really muddy, I’ll stay indoors and start sewing those toiles! I already have the fabric for the Burda patterns, so if I get those made up next week after fitting, it’ll be a good stash bust. I also found the #sewbibs hashtag on Instagram this week, a good push to make that dungaree dress, and possibly to finally trace and toile the Burnside Bibs for myself?? I already have the fabric for those too… It would tie in nicely with the other hashtag, #sewthatpatternnow. And of course, #makeyourstash. But I’ve been doing that one for a while now, and I’m only making very slow inroads into the stash boxes! Mostly because I keep hoarding the leftovers! Send help…

I’ll leave you with a picture of the Narcissus blooming on my allotment last week, before Storm Freya hit and flattened them, so I cut them and brought them indoors. My first harvest from the cutting garden this year!

The trench coat 103 in the February issue of Burdstyle 2017 has been on my “to sew” list since it came out. There was just something about the style, length and simplicity of the design that appeals. Daughter No1 was very keen on having it, and I really wanted to make it in one of her fabric designs, but the price of doing so was just too much. I still hope that one day I will be able to do that, but in the mean time she has her coat, and she’s still happy with it. And so is Daughter No 2….

The spy coat!

I guess I’d better explain! 🙂 Both girls liked the coat, and both wanted a version. So I went looking online for suitable fabric and found a rather nice pink/copper cotton twill at Croft Mill Fabrics for just £5/m. I bought 5m, which was a real bargain. I wasn’t sure whether the girls would like the colour, but as it was cotton, I was quite prepared to dye it to whatever colour they wanted. As it turns out, however, they were both perfectly happy with it! That makes it easy for me then! My Work in Progress post will take you through all the construction details.

I traced the 38 and toiled it in an old duvet cover from the charity shop. On trying it on Daughter No2, we noted the following alterations:

Lengthen sleeves by 4cm

Broad shoulder adjustment 1.5cm

Lengthen coat by 4cm

Lengthen belt pieces 1.5cm

For Daughter No1, these were the alterations:

Forward shoulder adjustment 1cm

Lengthen coat by 4cm

So, I was going to make Daughter No1’s coat first with her alterations, then reverse the shoulder adjustment and make the adjustments for Daughter No2 and make her coat. The coat itself is pretty straightforward to make. Although Burda call it a “gathered trench coat”, there’s actually no gathering. The waist is formed with dart tucks in the front and back, and the belt piece starts in the back panel seam to be fixed in the front with a button. It does have the effect of cinching the waist in a bit, but definitely not gathering. The button is sewn through all the layers, there is no buttonhole.

I did make them slightly differently, the coats have topstitching in different places, and Daughter No2’s coat has no shoulder pads. I used shoulder pads in Daughter No1’s coat because of her posture. I halved the thickness of the pads, she didn’t want “Dynasty shoulders”, but she did need the shaping they give. Can you tell that the shoulders are different?

Linings for the coats were chosen for each girl. The coat wasn’t intended to be lined, the Burda instructions have you use Hong Kong finish on all the raw seams, and that would be fine for a Spring/summer coat. We wanted these to be warmer, so I needed a lining. I’ve not used traditional lining fabric for the main body, but I have used “proper” lining for the sleeves. There’s nothing worse than your sleeves getting bunched up under your armpits when you put on a coat!

I’d found the cotton poplin William Morris inspired print at Fabworks and knew it would be perfect for Daughter No1. Daughter No2 needed something more contrasting, and I was looking for something geometric with a grey and white colour but was coming up empty handed. Eventually I found a blue and white paisley print with bronze detail at the Rag Market in Birmingham. It is viscose and cost a mere £2/m! It was the right choice and Daughter No2 approved.

My next problem in choice was the buttons. I raided my button box and then all the charity shops in town. I ended up with 3 rather yummy plum/maroon vintage buttons for the front of Daughter No2’s coat. But there weren’t any for the sleeve tabs. Another rummage through the button stash revealed 3 pretty pink mother of pearl buttons that would work. So that was one done, Daughter No1’s buttons were more tricky to decide on. She didn’t want a colour that would stand out too much, she decided subtle was the route to take.

Buttons!

In my raid of the local charity shops, I had found 4 beige-y/pink buttons, BIG ones! So the colour was subtle, size – not so very much…! But – they have worked rather well, and I found a couple of smaller similar coloured buttons in my stash that I used for the sleeve tabs. So, there you have two pink/copper coats with different linings and different buttons for two different girls with different styles. Although the shell colour is the same, and I used the same pattern, they do look different on.

That’s another Burdachallenge2018 entry for the year, and I’m glad to have made the trench coat.

July’s Burda magazine was pretty good, I thought. There were a fair few patterns I marked as interesting to make, either for me or the girls. One that stood out immediately for me to make for myself, was the cropped, slightly flared trousers, 120. The only thing I didn’t want from the pattern was the pleated detail on the hip yoke pockets. It had similar details to the cropped trousers I’ve made heaps of so far, the rusty linen was the last pair.

Burda flared trousers 120 July 2018

I had some turquoise washed linen I’d got from one of the stands at the NEC in March that I decided was perfect. I had the right amount of fabric, which was a good start! I did make a toile, as I always do with trousers, I need to know just how much length to take out of the leg, and whether or not to grade out from the hip up to the waist so I can close the zip.

Burda trousers 120 July 2018

In the end I removed 4 cm from the length of the main pieces in order to get the knee line to line up with my knee, I left the lower trouser piece intact. I also graded out to what would have been a 46 at the waist, because I go straight up from the hip. The waistband pieces are straight, which is perhaps not ideal. I recut them so there’s a centre back seam, which helps with getting a better fit. Although, I have to say, looking at these photos, that I could probably do with making them a little shorter, about 2cm should do the trick. And I need to take them in a bit, they do look rather big in the thigh area, I’m sure I could loose a bit of fabric there easily.

Please excuse the creases, I’d been sitting too long already!

The linen pair are great!! I made them in the first half of July, just after we got back from our Cornish break. The colour is almost a neutral, but has enough colour to stand above. The linen is a bit thicker than I’d really like for the sort of summer we’ve had this year. On the day I delivered the shirtdresses to daughter no2, I wore these trousers – that’s when I finally got those photos done. It was easily the hottest day of the year, it got up to 32C in Birmingham, and I thought I would melt. I’d also sat on a train for 45 minutes, then walked for another 10 in the heat. I was already uncomfortable way before taking photos! No matter, apart from that, they’ve been lovely. I had to make them a little tighter where I’d let the pattern out! The linen, of course, stretches with wear and they ended up hanging a little low, so I took 7.5mm out of the centre back and 1.5cm out of the side seams, necessitating the removal and re-insertion of the invisible zip.

Lovely enough to make another pair! Your remember I had some inky blue linen/cupro from Fabworks a couple of months ago (probably longer than I’m thinking). I’d expected a soft, floppy fabric, and got something with lustre and sheen (like a silk) and a lot more body. So it went on the backest of back burners while I decided what to do with them made something else. But then this pattern said, “give it a try”. The body of the fabric would hold the shape, and it’s thinner than the turquoise linen. I had two metres, so why not! Just a note, this particular colour has sold out, but they have other shades on a special offer… There’s also a post with information on how to care for this particular fibre partnership.

I stuck with the original enlargement, this stuff has NO STRETCH! It was the right call. They fit really nicely into the waist and do not fall down during the day, just right. Again, I left off the pleated detail, you’re really never going to see it anyway, and it’ll just make bulk under my tops. More bulk….

So I’m really happy with this pattern, I think it could easily be made in wool for wear with boots and tights in the autumn/winter, in fact, I rather thought this last pair would be slightly transitional. While we’ve certainly had the most amazing summer weather, just how long will it last now it’s August already??

I have another pattern to make quickly from the July Burda, top 117 looks interesting, and I think I’ll make it with one of the pieces of fabric I got from Seasalt. But I just need to finish a couple of tops on order from daughter no 2 first…

A little sewing procrastination happened after that mad “help me” post from a couple of weeks ago. In order for me to get all my thoughts in order and ducks in a row, I decided a quick detour would be a good idea. I had a piece of red and white viscose crepe left over from a blouse I’d made in January for the Burdachallege 2018. I also had a pattern I’d traced 106 from April 2013 Burda, it’s only got 4 pieces, quick and easy! I’d rather liked the look in the magazine when it first came out, but never really got round to making it.

Top 106 April 2013

This year, while I was tracing a pair of shorts from the same magazine for Daughter No2, I remembered this top and traced that too. A quick toile revealed it was too long for me (5cm) but didn’t need anything else, no FBA! Yippee! Now one thing to remember, if I were to go by measurements, the 44 would not fit me. In order for the top to look on my the way it does on the model, I’d need to go up 2-3 sizes. But there’s no way I’d want to wear it like that! All I want is a loose-fitting top with a bit of ease – not a tent! So bear that in mind when judging how tops look on me, compared to someone who’d normally fit into any size bracket.

The pattern pieces fitted on the remains of the fabric easily, neck facings were interfaced with fine sheer fusible from Gill Arnold. You could, if you preferred, use self-bias binding for the neck edges instead of the facings. The style is a loose fitting top with pleats at the front neckline with slight drop shoulder and no sleeves. The pleats were basted in place and steamed to hold the shape until I sewed on the facing.

I used French seams throughout and double turned the hem edges on the sleeve openings and the hem of the garment. It’s turned out really nicely and I like that I have another red top for the summer! I have worn the original red top from January loads of times, it gets compliments all the time. So now I have a summer one! Thankfully the shape is great for the current weather, and now I want another. I’m sure I have some small pieces of fabric lurking in the stash that I could use in this pattern, but first….

I must get on with reducing the piles of fabric and pagazines/patterns on the table in my sewing room and covering the bed in the guest room! I can say that I have made one of the items I rambled about last time, that inky blue linen/cupro blend. And it’s made fabulous cropped trousers! Will be showing those off soon…

This is a post that should have gone up last week, I finally managed to get photos of Daughter No2 in her new dresses last Friday, so I should have got everything sorted on the weekend – except we tuned out over the weekend, because it finally rained! We haven’t had rain since the 27th of April, according to my gardening diary. So it was nice to just relax and do those things you do on a rainy day – together…

Shirtdress 117 from May 2011 Burdastyle

So Burda 117, May 2011. Unfortunately it is not available on the English Burdastyle website, so you’ll have to track down a copy in the flesh or download the German version! Daughter no 2 had spotted it earlier in her hunt for a shirtdress, one of many patterns to try this summer. I love the slim, elegant skirt and little sleeves. The version in the magazine is made in a gorgeous blue and white floral print and it was this and the shape of the dress that drew daughter no 2 to it. Now I was on the look out for a suitable fabric.

Burda dress 117 05/2011

I finally found something suitable from Croft Mill Fabrics and we snapped up the last 2m. It was a blue and white floral print cotton-linen blend, but when it was washed, it turned into a pale blue and darker blue floral print… Luckily the new colour was accepted and approved, but now I needed new thread and a change of button choice.

The blousing in the back that she didn’t really like

I traced the 38, and made a toile using some pretty vintage cotton I bought earlier in the year from a Mid-Century Modern Show in Dulwich. Overall, the dress was approved, I needed to bring it in towards the waist, effectively making it a 36 in that area, and I needed to make a swayback adjustment in the skirt. The back of the dress has vintage inspired fullness, which I really liked, but daughter no 2 didn’t. So I adjusted the pattern to remove most of the blousing. The toile was then finished off, buttons etc from the stash, and now it’s fully wearable.

The pattern is straight forward to make, nothing complicated. The skirt pockets are stitched to the front skirt, which means no flapping about. Apart from nipping in at the waist and reducing the volume in the back, I haven’t altered anything else. The buttons came from the stash as my very local haberdashery closed last winter and my next local in Stratford on Avon will be closing in September. So the stock is very low and choice is worse. I couldn’t trust getting anything online so was desperate to find something suitable from my button box. I wasn’t sure I had anything, the dress needs 10 buttons, and I had nothing that was suitable in those numbers. But I did have two sizes of the same design button that hubby thought would do the job just fine. So I used the 3 bigger buttons on the bodice, and the 6 smaller ones on the skirt. It looks like it was done on purpose, rather than by necessity!

I delivered both dresses to Birmingham on what felt like the hottest day of the year! Oh boy, has this summer been warm! They were both tried on immediately and the squeals of delight told me I’d done my job! 🙂

The new, volume-reduced back view

What I rather like about both dresses is their ability to be worn layered with a tee shirt or cami and jeans/shorts/cropped trousers. Of course, after floating that idea, it had to be tested out, with what I thought was great success. I have since been informed that both dresses have been worn successfully and that she loves them. Phew! 😉

I am still chipping away at that long list of things to make, three more items crossed off the list will hopefully be photographed in a couple of weekends when she and her sister come for a visit.

But I am now on the hunt for a jumpsuit pattern that will be suitable for petites, with sleeves. Other requirements are that it be loose fitting around the waist, be able to be cropped to 7/8 length and be able to be worn in an office. Ideas please hive mind…

Making a good start on that long list of items for Daughter No 2, she’d identified a couple of pairs of trousers she really really wanted, and had allocated fabric from the stash! The tracing was done and when she came home for a week, I decided to get making, but with conditions…

She helped me in my allotment in the mornings (vitamin D and excercise) and then in the afternoon, we would sew together. She’d also made a pile of summer clothes that came out of the loft that needed attention. So we had our week’s worth of work laid out!

Burda trousers 113 08/2017

The first pair of trousers is 113 from Burda 08/2017. The fabric chosen to make them up came from ( I think) Ditto Fabrics, a good few years ago now. Daughter No 2 is slightly pear shaped, narrow waist and broader hips. There is usually a 2 size difference, so I traced the equivalent of the 38, going by her hip easurement. It’s a petite pattern, so I lengthened it: 1cm in the crotch depth, 1.5cm between the hip and knee and another 2cm between the knee and the hem. That should make it the right length for an “average” height person. Then I toiled and made the fitting adjustments on her to get the waist perfect. This was especially needed as the waistband doesn’t sit on the natural waist. But one thing didn’t quite work out. The length!!! The photo in the magazine clearly shows the model’s ankles and bottom part of her leg below the hem of the trousers, that was not happening with ours! You would expect Burdastyle to photograph the petite garments on petite models, yes?? I think they have used their standard height tall people here, there’s no other way to get the length they have, because even on shortening the pattern again (except for the crotch depth adjustment), it still wasn’t as short as on the model in the picture. And at 1.76cm tall, you cannot call Daughter No2 “average” height…

In the end we kept the length as it was originally traced, and narrowed the waist to just below the size 34. I took a bit out of the centre back to accomodate her posture, scooped out the crotch line and changed the shape of the curve – also a posture adjustment, and took in the inside seam, front seam by 1cm and back seam by 2, all tapering back to normal by the knee. I also added pockets! You need pocketses, so I drew up a pattern for inseam pockets, nice deep ones that ones phone won’t fall out of…

Inseam pocketses for the win!

I really love the finished pants, the colour of the fabric is turquoise with very dark blue diamond shapes, it looks black, but it’s not! I like that Daughter No 2 is confident to change it up with different shoes, and tops. I hope they get lots of wear this summer! That was a May Burda Challenge project, but as it’s only been blogged now in June, I’m calling it for June instead!

Hellooo, lovely patient people! I have a load of gorgeous clothes to show off, if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have an idea of what I have to catch up on! The first will be a dress I made at the end of April for Daughter no 2, the last project for April’s Burda Challenge 2018.

The pattern is #132 from April 2011, the dress in the magazine is made from leather, but we have a lovely piece of warm blue denim. I’d bought the fabric from Rosenberg and Sons at the NEC about 3-4 years ago to make a little pair of dungarees for a child, but never got round to it… Time to make something different! There was only 1m, but it was just enough for the main dress pieces. As the original dress was made in leather, there weren’t any facing pieces for the neckline and armholes, and no hem. Cue lots of bias binding!

Dress #132 Burda April 2011

I traced the 38, which is the smallest size this pattern comes in. I only toiled the bodice, and this showed we needed a paper dart in the back armhole, and to take in the side seams under the arm by 1.5-2cm. In order to fit all the pattern pieces on the fabric, I omitted the hem allowance and used a piece of wide bias binding to make a false hem.

The pockets in the front seams are cool, topstitched on, but could probably do with being a slightly different shape, deeper would be more practical. The denim is perfect for the dress, the shape is held really well but the denim is soft, so it feels really nice. The length is also just right, daughter no 2 doesn’t like skirts too short. It was quick and easy to make, and I recon it would work really well in a heavier fabric for the winter – to wear with a long sleeved tee or thin jumper underneath.

We had fun taking pictures of the dress, I needed to water the new plants on the allotment so planned to take photos there, but we found a fluffy friend! She was very happy to be the photobomber.

That was the last project for April, May started off badly – productivity wise – but ended on a high! Of course, there was Me-Made-May going on in the background, which has been great this year. I’ve been inspired!